Double-Bubble to Switzerland

February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 9 Comments

Do you remember my oil painting “Rising” that was in the international Art of Day 2010 Holiday Show and Sale?

Well it SOLD.

Earlier this week, I double-bubble wrapped this 8 X 10 inch on gessobord, cradled on a 2 inch birch frame, original and sent it to a buyer in Switzerland.

I can’t say enough about James Day from Art of Day who brokered the sale. He is amazing to work with. (To view more of my oil paintings for sale at ART of DAY, go directly to the ART of DAY store.)

I get such a thrill each time a piece of my work finds a new home whether it is an original oil painting, a print of one of my photographs or a gift card. It is kind of like when your children come home with stars on their school work and your in-laws are visiting. You try to be cool but you just can’t help wearing a grin so big that it wipes out the pretend furrow on your brow. I tell myself – now don’t you go getting a big head over this! “Rising” is only one small oil painting. That is the furrowed brow. But I SOLD it – to a buyer in Switzerland! That is the great big grin.

I go through this exercise each time. Like when Annie from New York City bought “Only the Sea.”

Or like a couple of weeks ago when a large poster of “Arbutus in the Fog” was purchased by a buyer in England.

Or like when someone came bouncing up to me here on Mayne Island because she had got one of my art cards for her birthday from a friend.

No matter how humble and how chilled I know I am supposed to be, I can’t help shouting Yaaaaaaa hoooooo! Then I do a little ta, ta, ta, ta-da dance before regaining my composure and going back to creating. Does this happen to you too?

Sprout question: What is wiping out the furrow on your brow with a big grin?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Gracing the Green House

February 2, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

Announcement: Creative Potager host, Terrill Welch, has a new venue displaying her photography in collaboration with fellow photographer Barbara McIntyre at the Green House Restaurant on Mayne Island.

We are very excited. Our shows of Gulf Island framed prints and canvas prints photography will change every one to two months. Please drop in if you are in our neighbourhood. You can’t miss it. The Green House Restaurant is on the right hand side just before you crest the last rise into Miner’s Bay.

The menu is diverse and delicious. In winter, there is all the cozy charm of home. You might even find me sitting at the closest table to the small fireplace sipping a glass of wine waiting for my dinner to be served.

In summer there are large decks that catch the late afternoon and evening sun. This is a great place to enjoy a quiet meal or visit with friends and take a long deep breath of Mayne Island relaxation. Make sure you slip inside to see what new we have on show.

Gerry always has a smile for you.

Owners Doug and Gerry decided to call the new restaurant the “Green House” because it was once the site of several green houses operated by the Japanese family before the Second World War. The house dates from about 1910, builder unknown. Kumazo Nagata bought it in 1921, and enlarged it in 1937. [Source: Ovanin, Thomas K. Island Heritage Buildings. Islands Trust, c. 1980.]

We are thrilled to have our photography on show in this historic building.

Of course for those readers from far away, you don’t have to come all the way to Mayne Island to view and purchase our photography.

Barbara McIntyre has a new redbubble account so feel free to drop on over and have a look there as well.

As many of you know, my work can be found here on redbubble where this new image “Shades of Blue” is available.

So glad you stopped in. Come on back anytime.

Sprout question: Where is your creativity showing this week?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Meet Street Photographer Vivian Maier

January 31, 2011January 31, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 14 Comments

First, my intention for this week is to brush my way into an oil painting using one of my charcoal figure sketches as a guide. It will be difficult as I have only the one sketch to work with and I have a particular setting in mind that has been inspired from a passage from The Underpainter (1997) by Jane Urquhart. Regrettably, I am reluctant to share more than this with you at the moment. It is an image that is perfectly clear in my mind’s eye with shifting tones and composition every time the painting whispers for me to begin the process to stillness on canvas. I will honour last week’s principle of waiting to be invited… but act immediately when asked. This way, with luck, the image won’t slip away like mist in the afternoon sun.

Now, allow me to introduce the most extraordinary Street Photographer Vivian Maier with the most unusual passage into notoriety. Her work was discovered in 2007 by a 26 year old, real estate agent/entrepreneur/historian – John Maloof – after he purchased a box of her negatives at an auction for $400. According to this brief excerpt about Vivian Maier in Wikipedia:

In 1951, at 25 years old, Vivian Maier moved from France to New York, where she worked for some time in a sweatshop. She made her way to the Chicago area’s North Shore in 1956 and became a nanny on and off for about 40 years, staying with one family for 14 of them. She was, in the accounts of the families for whom she worked, very private, spending her days off walking the streets of Chicago and taking photographs, most often with a Rolleiflex camera.

John Maloof, curator of Maier’s collection of photographs, summarizes the way the children she nannied would later describe her:

She was a Socialist, a Feminist, a movie critic, and a tell-it-like-it-is type of person. She learned English by going to theaters, which she loved. She wore a men’s jacket, men’s shoes and a large hat most of the time. She was constantly taking pictures, which she didn’t show anyone.

Between 1959 and 1960, Maier traveled to Los Angeles, Manila, Bangkok, Beijing, Egypt, Italy, and the American Southwest, taking pictures in each location. The trip was probably financed by the sale of a family farm in Alsace. For a brief period in the 1970s, Maier worked as a nanny for Phil Donahue’s children. As she got older, she collected more boxes of belongings, bringing them with her to each new post. At one employer’s house she stored 200 boxes of materials. Most were photographs or negatives, but Maier collected other objects, such as newspapers,and sometimes recorded audiotapes of conversations she had with the people she photographed.

Towards the end of her life, Maier may have been homeless for some time. She lived on Social Security checks and may have had another source of income, but the children she had taken care of in the early 1950s bought her an apartment and paid her bills. In 2008, she slipped on ice and hit her head. She did not fully recover and died in 2009 at the age of 83.

This video provides an excellent overview…

Also, here are the Vivian Maier blog and the Vivian Maier Photography website. I am trusting that you may be as intrigued and inspired by her work as I am. Enjoy!

A new photograph “Tomorrow’s Dawn” seems like the most fitting image to share this Monday.

(image may be purchased here.)

Sprout question: What creative treasure might you have tucked away for future discovery?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Baby O arrives in about six weeks

January 25, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 18 Comments

Baby O is due March 4, 2011 but we all know that babies mostly arrive when they are ready. Saturday I caught the 7:45 am ferry to Swartz Bay and drove up Vancouver Island to Mill Bay where my daughter and her husband live. Josie was celebrating her thirtieth birthday with munchies and cake in the party room at the Duncan recreational pool. Everyone brought swim suits. Great fun! I liked the lazy river and the wave pool best.

While I was there we also did a photo shoot. So now I can update you with some new images on the progress of Baby O. We went to some of the same places that I took some of the first photographs at the end of September if you want to compare. Plus, there is another Baby O post from early November that you can have a look at as well.

Josie has been fortunate in that she has been healthy and active throughout her pregnancy. The day I arrived she went kayaking to referee a water polo game in the bay. A few days before that she was out on a rugged 7 km hike.

What was really amazing about taking these photographs was how different Josie’s belly looks in each image. Just so you know. These images were taken back to back on the same day.

Though the day was heavy with cloud and mist it had its own magic.

We visited as we walked and stopped to take photographs. One of my goals was to capture Josie in her natural environment doing everyday things that she enjoys. Which is hard to do because she enjoys so much! Teaching physics, cooking, hiking, kayaking just to name a few favourite activities.

Both the expecting mom and dad are prepared and excited about the coming adventure with Baby O. Oh! And so are the grandparents!

Sprout question: What are you waiting to be delivered?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Waiting to be Invited

January 24, 2011January 22, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 23 Comments

There is a part of creativity that is about showing up prepared. That means setting up your writing station and putting bum-to-chair. Or pulling out a canvas and placing it on the easel. Then putting a brush in your hand at a regularly scheduled time to paint. Or it means putting your camera bag on your shoulder and heading out everyday to take the photograph that is there to be taken. Each of us practicing our creative craft will engage in some form of preparation. If you are a musician or a dancer or a woodcarver you will know exactly what to do to show up prepared.

After doing a few warm up exercises, I find there is a second part to most creative processes. This is waiting to be invited. There is a pause or suspension of expectation or a kind of taut readiness. Mind, body and spirit seem to align and, there it is – the invitation. We know intuitively exactly what we need to do next. We proceed.

This is my intention for the week ahead. I have a half-finished painting and few canvases of various sizes that I picked up last week. I am going to set aside the time each day, be prepared, do my warm up exercises, stilling my mind and wait to be invited.

This is what happened when I took these two photographs at the Japanese garden on Friday morning. As the rain came down, I visited with a friend who is moving away. We were sitting on a sheltered bench. I had taken my camera even though the day was heavily clouded and didn’t show much promise.

First, this invite was extended to me.

And then this one.

I remembered my manners and said “thank you.”

And here are a couple of things you may find inspiring:

Last Tuesday, we slipped into Victoria B.C. and attended the IMAX theatre for the most impressive Van Gogh brush with Genius . Well worth seeing if you ever get the chance. Thank you Sherwin, from Shower Wisdom, for making such a compelling recommendation in your comment to last Monday’s post.

While we were in town we went to a couple of art galleries. At the new Madrona Gallery we saw a 3 X 4 foot acrylic painting by Karel Doruyler of a mature, dense west coast forest. His skill with light is outstanding. The work we saw was Thoughts of Summer. Doruyler has developed a heavily textured approach so that the tree trunks are significantly raised off the surface of the painting. Doruyler has been painting professionally for 40 years and is now 70 years old. His work leaves me with such a sense of possibility for my own continued development as an artist.

All the best in your creative endeavors!

Sprout question: Where are you showing up prepared to be invited?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Soft light

January 20, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 8 Comments

Today heavy clouds filter the sun into a perpetual dawn. With rain tapping the roof now and again, I sleep late. No harm done – at least none that I have noticed. I remember our walk yesterday afternoon with its scattered clouds and soft light.

Walking a coastal trail…

Often looking towards the view but not going out to admire. We are smoked in. It seems as if someone is burning brush.

It is so pleasant under the trees. The air is heavy and still as we walk quietly through the soft light.

(image may be purchased here.)

Sprout question: How are you embracing what the day has to offer?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Red Bowl

January 17, 2011January 17, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 34 Comments

Before I share with you my experience with the red bowl, let’s be clear about this week’s intention. This week, I shall finish up the three paintings I have underway.

The first of these is breaking through or “the big one” posted in A Week Painting.

The second is the forest and the third is orange sea both of which were posted this past Friday in Hot Coals.

I have one more canvas I can begin if the spirit moves me. Then it will require a shopping trip to continue.

Now about the red bowl

Last week I started a six week photography e-course with Kat Sloma from The Kat Eye View. I first met Kat through her comments on Creative Potager. When I read her e-course description I knew this e-course was for me. Here is the first paragraph…

Photography is art, and like any other art, is an expression of the heart and soul of the artist. In digital photography, the camera and computer become tools for creative expression the same way paints and brushes are tools for painters. But learning the tools alone does not help you find your eye and express your heart and soul; it can only be the starting point. You have to learn to dive deeper into experiencing the environment around you and understand what calls to you in order to develop a unique photographic style of your own.

(by Kat Sloma. More about the e-course here.)

Her first exercise has to do with understanding how light can affect your subject. For this exercise I chose a bowl where the inside is red. Flickr is the format I am using for the Finding Your Eye e-course photojournal. You are welcome to check out my before and after images of the red bowl in different lighting at Bowls – finding my eye entry 1. All ten images are of the same red bowl.

I know I said I am going to focus more on painting than photography this year. However, I am taking the liberty of adjusting as the creative spirit moves me. I have decided it likely going to be a both/and year – Both painting and photography.

On that note, here is my favourite photograph from the past few days.

Alder in the Sun

(image may be purchased here.)

AND

The Fallen

(image may be purchased here.)

Sprout question: In what direction is your creative spirit moving you this week?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Dawn at the Pier

January 13, 2011January 13, 2011 / Terrill Welch / 19 Comments

Well, my underpaintings do not look very promising this week. I may or may not get time to work on them later today. So please don’t have high expectations tomorrow when I post the results. Sometimes creativity is like that. I tell myself there is learning to be had and just keep going. I also look back on other work that has been successful to boost my ability to be brave and bold and take the next step.

For today, I have been thinking about an image that I took early in the morning on New Year’s day. This pier is in Bennett Bay on Mayne Island. I have various images of it but this has to be my favourite. Enjoy.

(image may be purchased here.)

It is a quiet photograph the invites rather than excites. Today this seems just right.

Sprout question: What do you do when your creativity doesn’t meet your expectation?

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Treetop Views

December 31, 2010December 31, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 13 Comments

The sun is out. The end of the year is upon us. We are going high up for a look around.

A grand view always has me reflecting on my blessings. I usually sort of hop-skip up and down and exclaim about how wonderful it is to be alive.

David laughs and we both grin one of those big grins where our teeth show and our eyes snap as if we are keeping a secret. This past year we have tramped the island trails regularly. We have meandered along the roads. We have washed our hands in the Salish Sea. We have sat quiet watching as the light changes on the trees.

This year of 2010 has been a good year.

Happy New Year dear friends! May you notice the blessings you receive.

Sprout question: What are you most treasured memories for 2010?

On Monday shall see Creative Potager begin a new posting schedule with Monday and Friday being the book-ends for the week with the occasional surprise post in the middle. Monday will be used to set my intention for the week and Friday will be a report out on the results. So off into 2011 we go!

Liberal usage granted with written permission. See “About” for details.

Purchase photography at http://www.redbubble.com/people/terrillwelch

Creative Potager – where imagination rules. Be inspired.

From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Dramatic Seas

December 30, 2010December 30, 2010 / Terrill Welch / 15 Comments

What I am about to share with you is from last evening’s meanderings. Can someone please choose a perfect piece of well-known classical music for me? It needs to start softly as the light gives way to early evening.